Hopkins 4K for Cancer

July 12, 2005

Moab, UT
Today was the first time we had to wake-up at 4:30 in order to beat the heat of the desert. That was quite a shock to my system. It seemed a bit too early. The other thing was that I could not imagine it getting hot anytime that day because when I woke up I was freezing. It seemed that beating the heat was quite irrelevant at that point. I was tempted to wear a long-sleeve shirt to start. I know that sentiment was felt by my riding buddies, Weijie and Jess DeLeon in Team High Cadence. But the minute that sun came up the feeling was lost and it turned out to not irrelevant. I guess Nisha actually knew what she was doing when she woke us up that early. It ended up being the hottest day of the trip thus far and it was still getting hotter when we stopped.

The only thing that made the riding bearable was the gorgeous scenery. Throughout the second half of the ride we were treated with the sights of the beautiful red rock that makes Moab famous. I had not seen anything like that before so I was just amazed the entire time. Even with the amazing sights I was quite happy with ending the ride and going inside the First Baptist Church of Moab, our hosts for the evening, where there was air conditioning.

On top of the air conditioning, we learned that the McDonald's of Moab was willing to donate ice cream sundaes to us after the long ride. That hit the spot and we would all like to say thanks to McDonald's.

After going to McDonald's and showering we dropped our bikes off at Moab Cyclery, who were very generous in giving our bikes tune-ups to make it through the desert with as few problems as possible. Thanks Moab Cyclery.

For dinner we were treated to a wonderful meal at the Moab Diner. Every rider was able to get whatever they wanted on the menu. We all came out of the diner smiling and full. We are all so thankful of the Moab Diner for their generosity.

To end the night the group went to Arches National Park and went on the Delicate Arch trail for the sunset. It was still very hot and a little uncomfortable to be hiking in that kind of heat, but seeing the Delicate Arch to round out the day was amazing. Seeing the arch I was actually speechless for a few moments when I was first taking in the sight. It was phenomal and I know that some people were apprehensive about going on the hike but were glad they did not miss out on seeing the arch. Its a sight I know I will remember for the rest of my life. After the sunset it was time to head back down the trail and head back to the church. We were all quite tired from the long day and we were all looking forward to the day off to rest and relax.

~Steve Myers